Bricks Without Straw, a prayer-poem by Trisha Arlin

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International

Date: 2025-03-17

Last Updated: 2025-03-24

Categories: Magid

Tags: 21st century C.E., 47th President of the United States, 58th century A.M., Donald Trump, English vernacular prayer, Prayers as poems, פרשת וארא parashat Va'era

Excerpt: "Bricks Without Straw" is a prayer-poem written by Trisha Arlin, first shared in the Passover anthology, From the Depths: Pesach 5785/2025 (Bayit: Building Jewish) on 17 March 2025. . . .

Content:

Bricks Without Straw

This year
Pharaoh has declared
That we must make our bricks
Without straw!

That we must be happy
Without truth

That we must be poor
Without healthcare

That we must be gendered
Without a say

That we must be Black
Without equity

That we must be women
Without choices

That we must be old
Without help

That we must live
Without housing

That we must be prepared
Without science

That we must make war
Without conscience

That we must breathe
Without air

That we must be refugees
Without asylum

That we must be content
Without democracy

That we must obey
Without question.

Moses said to Pharaoh,
Let my people go.^[1] A phrase repeated six times in Exodus, Parashat Va’era. Find, Exodus 7:16, Exodus 7:26, Exodus 8:16, Exodus 9:1, Exodus 9:13, Exodus 10:3
And this year, what do you say?
Say it now!

“Bricks Without Straw” is a prayer-poem written by Trisha Arlin, first shared in the From the Depths: Pesach 5785/2025 (Bayit) via their website, on 17 March 2025.

Notes

Notes
1	A phrase repeated six times in Exodus, Parashat Va’era. Find, Exodus 7:16, Exodus 7:26, Exodus 8:16, Exodus 9:1, Exodus 9:13, Exodus 10:3

Contributor: Trisha Arlin

Co-authors:

Name: Trisha Arlin
Bio: Trisha Arlin is a liturgist, teacher, performer and student of prayer in Brooklyn, NY and was a part-time rabbinic student at the Academy of Jewish Religion (AJR), 2012-18. Trisha was the Liturgist-In-Residence during the National Havurah Committee’s 2014 Summer Institute, has served as Scholar or Artist In Residence at many synagogues where she has read, led services and taught her class, Writing Prayer. since the pandemic began, Trisha has been on Zoom teaching prayer writing, sharing her liturgy and doing readings with Ritualwell, Haggadot.com, for synagogues around the country as well as small freelance groups. She is a founding builder of Bayit’s Liturgical Arts project. Trisha received a BA in Theater from Antioch College in 1975 and MFA in Film (Screenwriting) in 1997 from Columbia University. In 2009/2010, Trisha was an Arts Fellow at the Drisha Institute. In 2011, she graduated from the sixth cohort of the Davennen Leadership Training Institute (DLTI). A longtime member of Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of our Lives, a progressive unaffiliated congregation in Brooklyn NY, Trisha’s liturgy has been used at services and ritual occasions and in newsletter there and at venues of many denominations around the world. Her work has been published in her book, Place Yourself: Words of Poetry and Intention (a collection of liturgy and kavannot. Foreword by Rabbi Jill Hammer, Artwork by Mike Cockrill. 2019 Dimus Parrhesia Press); the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion; Seder Tefillot, Forms of Prayer: Prayers for the High Holydays (Movement for Reform Judaism); B’chol Levavecha (CCAR Press); Beside Still Waters: A Journey of Comfort and Renewal (Bayit & Ben Yehuda Press); A Poet’s Siddur (Ain’t Got No Press); Studies in Judaism and Pluralism (Ben Yehuda Press) and can be found online at TrishaArlin.com, at RitualWell, and of course, the Open Siddur Project. You can support her work by buying her book, making a one time donation through PayPal @trishaarlin or monthly support via Patreon.
Website: https://triganza.blogspot.com
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/trisha-arlin

Name: Bayit: Building Jewish
Bio: Bayit: Building Jewish (formerly, Bayit: Your Jewish Home) was founded in December 2017 by a group of rabbis and lay leaders seeking to become a collaboration engine for building "a radically inclusive and enlivening Judaism for all ages and stages. We aim to give you tools for building the Judaism that you yearn for, renewing Judaism so that your Judaism can renew you."
Website: https://yourbayit.org
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/bayit-building-jewish

Featured Image:

Title: Ancient Mud-Brick Wall [citadel of Rayen, Iran] (A. Davey, CC BY)
Caption: Ancient Mud-Brick Wall [citadel of Rayen, Iran] (credit: A. Davey, license: CC BY)